January 20, 2009

You were only waiting for this moment to arrive

Barack Hussein Obama is shortly going to assume the presidency of the United States of America.

And across the planet, people are giddy with excitement.

And at this moment in history, Americans and the world, after having experienced and witnessed the very worst of American government for 8 excrutiatingly long years, is now looking at the prospect of the very best this country has to offer to both it's citizens and the rest of the world.

And to all those white pundits and Republicans and DLC Democrats who've been insisting for decades that Americans are mostly conservative, eat it.

Just because they got most of their campaign loot from conservatives isn't a very good basis for judging the political leanings of the country.

Wonder where the votes came from? Wonder where the record shattering amounts of money raised by the Obama campaign and Dem campaigns across the country came from?Wonder where the sea of happy people come from stretching as far as the eye can see to stend in the freezing cold just to BE THERE?

I'll give you a clue. They're NOT conservatives.

And they've been IGNORED for scores of years by ignorant politicians and pundits who only see white, rich, conservative leaning people at their fund-raisers and assumed that was reality, a very foolish mistake.

From a government and Republican party who represented the interests of ONLY the exclusively white elite, the very wealthiest sliver of people in this country, and eagerly worked to give them everything they wanted while giving the rest of us nothing but propaganda and lies, to one offering a return to reality, honesty, and actual competence.

The Republican ideologues got their way. The Republicans and Bush spent 8 years busily concocting ways for corporate America and Wall Street to literally loot the government until it was bankrupt as has been their ideological goal for decades. For years they've tried to make the government so broke that it would be forced to eliminate the programs designed to destroy New Deal programs and essentially destroy any form of government which either taxed the wealthy or corporations or prevented them from doing whatever they wanted, anywhere, anytime, to make more money, no matter what the consequences to society, the economy, or the environment.

From the very worst administration in the history of our country, to one which is pledged to return to what our government is supposed to be. One which offers the prospect that our country can be returned to the people who make up the country, not just those who already have incredible power.

How tragic that after radical Republican ideologues having seized our country (in essentially a coup 8 years ago) and happily perverted it beyond recognition, that simply promising a return to "normal" would evince such a massive outpouring of exuberance and joy.

But this is what it looks like when the American people feel that they've actually regained control over their own government after having it stolen, and run, of, by, and for, only the most wealthy, the most connected, and the most greedy and immoral.

And normal Americans are heaving a sigh of relief.

The outpouring of excitement and good feelings aren't just due to Obama alone, though that's a huge part of it.

No, I think at least half of it, if not a majority of it, springs from the joy and RELIEF felt by people literally around the globe who feel as though someone has just removed a boot from their neck.

Yes, the joy you see and literally feel to your core is likely the same emotional release, the same relief and happiness felt by an abused woman feels when her abuser finally is incarcerated. No more fear. NO more abuse, disrespect, lies.

Relief.

Hope.

Joy.

So here's to this historic moment, to an era of possibility, to a president who isn't trying to bullshit the country every time he opens his mouth, (and one that can actually SPEAK ENGLISH). Good riddance to reckless and thoughless government, run by those who's only qualifications were if they were ideological true believers, to a government which didn't even pretend to care about anything or anybody other than the very richest in our society.

And hello to a return to reality. To science. To intelligence. To competence. To a government which exists to help people, not abuse, lie to, and ignore the people.

It is now in hindsight that the Bush era stands naked as the criminally greedy and irresponsible disaster that it was. The cocky ideology that was based on the idea that extremely wealthy white people are inherantly more worthy, more moral, than the rest of us. That incredibly arrogant attitude that government exists to serve them, while taking away basic services, removing regulations that protect our safety and health in the name of them adding a few more million to their already huge stack.

The only thing they felt was due the little people who make their great wealth possible was an endless stream of bullshit designed to cover up what they were doing, an endless marketing campaign to sell shit sandwiches to us all by dipping it in chocolate and charging us dearly for it, in which they'd send out Bush to read lies and distortions off of 3x5 cards and then consider the job done.

Do whatever you want. Take whatever you want. And keep the boobs in line by lying your ass off to them to keep them scared, ignorant, and "patriotic".

Now we see what is possible.

Perhaps most importantly, the promise of a return to REALITY. To honesty.

And frankly, a return to collective mental health.

You can't be told that reality isn't real, that black is white, and that what's bad for you is actually good for you, and have people constantly wave the prospect of horrible death in front of you for 8 long years and not be a little goofy.

That alone is reason for rejoicing.

So lets all enjoy this moment.

And to those dead-enders still longing for the era where you were so cynically manipulated by your inner bigot, your weakness for fear and conspiracy, and your belief that mankind is rotten and it's silly to dream or hope that anything better is possible, or that anything would ever change, get over it, get some help, or get going.

Let's all enjoy this era of good feelings. And then let's see how long we can keep the spirit.

2 Comments:

Well, leave us not forget the conservatives whose scales fell from their eyes during the Dubya years and came out in favor of Obama during the campaign. They, too, recognize that the time for divisiveness and partisan politics must end, and that everyone in the U.S. of any political stripe must have a place and a share in what good is to come...and therefore must go to work side by side to achieve it. And that the Limbaughs, Malkins and Coulters of the nation, while they'll continue to have an audience, will from henceforth be walking backward into a future they've already decided they want no part of. Because that future beckons utilitarianism - the greatest good for the greatest number - and all they can ever care about is the ultimate good for only their number.

nooncat,Yes, there was a select group of conservative Republican pundits and pooh-bahs who, at the point they could no longer avoid the writing on the wall, wisely slid on over to the obvious... that Obama was by far the best choice in this election.

How much was genuine, how much was due to a desire for bi-partisanship, I'm not sure.

But I'd bet the farm that it was simply due to the fact that they didn't want to be caught on the wrong side of history.

It's tough for an unrepentant Republican true believer to get TV gigs these days.

I tend to think they're consessions to Obama were far more calculated and far less noble than perhaps you suggest.

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